Housing prices are going up in Ripon.

/The Bulletin

Sales of existing homes dropped by 10 percent in Ripon during 2012, while the median closed escrow increased 13 percent over 2011 levels.

A snapshot of the Ripon housing market gleaned from Central Valley Association of Realtors statistics from the Multiple Listing Service reflects one that is on the mend and is doing better than in neighboring South County cities in terms of price.

The median price paid for existing homes in 2012 in Ripon was $275,000 compared to $259,500 in 2011. That’s still a ways from the historic peak in 2006 when median price was nudging $500,000.

Manteca – the next closest market to Ripon when it comes to median selling price of existing homes – was at $190,000 for 2012 compared to $179,500 for 2011.

The most expensive home to sell in 2012 in Ripon went for $825,000, compared to $750,000 in 2011. There were 29 Ripon homes that sold for more than $400,000 in 2012, as opposed to 15 in 2011. The least expensive property to sell was also up in 2012 going from $20,000 in 2011 to $35,000 in 2012. Overall, about 12 percent of all homes selling in Ripon in 2012 went for more than $400,000.

That is still a far cry from 2006 when more than 60 percent of the existing homes that sold surpassed the $400,000 mark.

There were 218 existing homes sold in Ripon during 2012 compared to 239 in 2011.

The most telling statistic, though, in terms of buyer demand is that in 2012 a typical Ripon home stayed on the market for 55 days compared to 70 days in 2011

Ripon was relatively unfazed by the foreclosure crisis. The mortgage crisis has resulted in one out of every four existing homes in Manteca – 5,822 – being sold since 2008. All of those homes sold for significantly less than the market peak in 2006 when the median closed escrow price for existing homes reached a record $413,000. The figure includes 1,092 homes, mostly foreclosures that sold in 2012 in Manteca.

The silver lining of the foreclosure mess that triggered the housing market collapse is affordability. Economists contend housing is affordable when it doesn’t exceed more than 2.5 times an area’s median household income.

In Ripon, the median price of a home in 2006 was 6.25 times the median household income. Median household income in Ripon in 2009 based on state Department of Finance figures was $79,105. Median housing prices in 2012 were at $275,000. That translates into housing prices being 3.4 times more than annual income.